His chosen successor the youthful Uhuru Kenyatta son of the first president was decisively defeated by the National Alliance Rainbow Coalition (NARC) an alliance of the 'Rainbow Coalition' of KANU defectors around Raila Odinga Kalonzo Musyoka and George Saitoti and the 'National Alliance' of Mwai Kibaki Charity Ngilu and Kijana Wamalwa which – through Kibaki's Democratic Party - had been the enduring centre of political opposition to KANU since 1991...

The decision appears to have been the product of intense negotiation between its principals in which figures such as Musalia Mudavadi and Kalonzo Musyoka said that they could not support a more confrontational strategy binding Odinga's hands...

After he was chosen as the Nasa flag bearer and that its other leaders – Musalia Mudavadi Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka Isaac Ruto and Moses Wetangula – had decided to back him Odinga's poll ratings surged to over 40%...